Let Joy Be Unconfined
by sunsetofdoom
Summary: Genderbend 'verse; Jak falls into an unfamiliar world, and has to learn to navigate it on her own. A character study in fifty one-sentence prompts.


**Fifty one-sentence prompts, with rule 63'd Jak, Daxter, and Kiera; I call 63!Kiera, Kieran, but I couldn't feminize _Jak_ or _Daxter_ sufficiently, so, they're just girls with the same names. From girl!Jak's perspective.**

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#01: Ring - Jak stares at the large metal ring that Kieran put back together (for himself to repair, again), waiting for her younger self to go through, and remembers how much of a pain it was to move that thing into place in Sandover, and how loudly Daxter had complained about it; it seems so long ago.

#02: Hero - However many times she may have saved the world, she's certainly never _felt _like a hero.

#03: Memory - She hears voices above her, knows she's going to die this time, she's ready - and suddenly there's a weight on her chest, a voice she doesn't recognize, and she sits up and _screams _something at it-

_she's_ gone, but _it_ knows _it_ can break free, the strength in it, the rage and it can tear and rend and destroy, rejoice in the blood-

there's a smell, a small bright place in the hind-brain, a memory of _mate-partner-sister-friend-_

"Daxter?"

#04: Box - In her room above the bar, under the bed, there's a small, locked wooden box- Tess has the only key, with instructions to open it "in case", and they both knew she meant "in case I leave and don't come back"- filled up with letters, trinkets, her will, instructions for her funeral.

#05: Run -"Oh yeah?" she dares Sig playfully, both of them half-armored before the sun gets fully overhead, "Then come and catch me!"

#06: Hurricane - An awful storm comes in over the ocean, and she spends two hours outside in it helping a Wastelander couple find their lost child; there are moments when she resents being treated like her (rather arbitrary) "hero" label gives everyone a right to use her as an errand girl, but seeing the two women find their little boy makes the resentment wash away with the sand.

#07: Wings - There was pain, almost worse than that damn chair, bright fire searing through her, arching her back and she was opening her mouth to scream-

then there was a pure, high tone in her ears, and the world fell into a perfect order as wings unfolded from her shoulders.

#08: Cold - Since the experiments, she's always cold; it's part of the reason she loves the desert, the sunshine on the rocks and sand brighter and warmer than anywhere in Haven.

#09: Red - The female ottsel is one of the most protective creatures in nature; if her mate is threatened, a fully grown dame ottsel can take on a juvenile Metalhead, and win; Jak finds proof of this when, paralyzed in the bar with Erol far too close, a streak of red-orange howls past, and Daxter sinks her claws into his eye.

#10: Drink - She's tried many a time, but unfortunately, the Light Eco in her body prevents her from getting drunk.

#11: Midnight - She and Sig set up camp at an oasis in the middle of the night, no moon overhead, and she's stunned by how big and bright and terrible is the desert sky, filled with stars.

#12: Temptation - She figured out that she was Damas' child when he told her he had ruled Haven (if he ruled Haven, his lost daughter would have been the Kid, the Kid was her, Damas was, holy Precursors, _her father_), and she couldn't make herself tell him- it was a difficult enough subject to breach without there being time travel involved- but the urge to just say it, _I'm your daughter, I can't explain it in a way that makes sense, but that little girl you lost grew up to be _me, was always strong.

#13: View - Her favourite view in the world is from a rooftop in Spargus, watching the sun set on the desert; she thinks back to looking down on Sandover from the temple in the jungle, and feels like a traitor for thinking the liquid sunlight on sand even more beautiful.

#14: Music - She'd always liked music and dancing back home, of course, but after her escape from the prison, she finds that the Dark in her _really _likes it; the pounding beat and the urge to _move_ falling through her, heart beating wildly to the primal thrill of the dance, whether around a bonfire or in a shadowed club.

#15: Silk - Smooth, fine material on her own skin makes her nervous, knowing she won't be able to fight as well with a dress on, but the shiny blue is draped gently across Rayne's shoulders, highlighting her curves, and Jak's jaw about hits the floor.

#16: Cover - Just out of the prison, she looks at herself in the mirror and sees her skin, too pale and too thin to be stretched so tightly over stick-out bones and lanky muscle.

#17: Promise - Jak wakes after a nightmare- the same nightmare, every time- with the ghost of Erol's face half-formed in front of her, his last promise ringing in her ears- _"Whatever happens, whatever the Baron decides, you're mine, don't you understand; I'm going to keep you, even if I have you chained up for the rest of your life, because you are _mine_, understand?"_

#18: Dream - One would assume, with the stories her friends tell, that Jak's nightmares would take place in Haven, and her pleasant dreams in Sandover, and most fit the pattern; but there's a few that keep coming back, some of walking through a quiet, contemplative Haven in the mist that leaves her peaceful, or one of Daxter falling into the pit of Dark Eco and never coming up again- which shakes her so badly she can't sleep afterwards- that continually befuddle her.

#19: Candle - Haven is a festering wound, an open sore of a city, and sometimes Jak wonders if it's worth trying as hard as she does to save it- but she glances in a window in the slums to find a woman with no power reading to her children by candlelight, and she realizes that, bad as it is, she would still fight for moments like these.

#20: Talent - Jak may do the heavy lifting, but Daxter keeps her moving; Dax's talent lies in words, not action, and- for all her noise- she seems to think that it's less worthy than what her best friend is good at; Jak sees to the heart of her best friend's insecurity, and it's part of why she likes Tess so much, for giving Dax someone to tell her how wonderful she is, like seeing herself in a mirror that's finally been cleaned.

#21: Silence - Kliever of all people was the one that finally solved the mystery for her, of why she never talked; he'd known Haven's royal family for ages, and was the personal guard to the Queen, Ilessa; years after they'd settled their petty dislikes, he told her stories of her mother, and of little Mar, who was bright and cheerful and loud as anything- right up until Ilessa got ill, when Mar got quieter; and when the Queen was gone, so was Mar's voice.

#22: Journey - She gets a little dizzy when she realizes that the only reason she is where she is- the reason she set out on a journey, that lead to a discovery, that lead to saving the world, which ended up with a trip to the future and a few more cans of worms- all of this started out because she decided to go exploring with her best friend when she was fourteen.

#23: Fire - Her Dark side feels like fire; hot, blistering anger, destruction enough to tear down worlds, a warming influence combating the chill of her cell that burned when she touched on it.

#24: Strength - Sometimes, when Daxter is with Tess, and Kieran is with whatever girl he's picked up, and all her friends have someone but her, she'll climb to the top of a cliff in the Wasteland, and scream until she's sick; she always comes back down feeling like she's taken off weighted clothing, like she could carry the world on her back.

#25: Mask - She pretends to be okay, most of the time; she pretends to be fine with staying still, pretends she's all right with people touching her, pretends to hate the killing she does on a regular basis- but she's frightened that if she lets anyone close enough, they'll see the truth.

#26: Ice - Her Light side feels like ice; bright and reflecting, pure and perfect, but a little too detached, too cold, to let her feel like a person.

#27: Fall - Slowly the graffiti starts to turn nasty, the posters get torn down, the rebellion behind her starts to fan out; she watches, detatchedly, as she falls from grace, and when the men come with the arrest order she's not even very surprised.

#28: Forgotten - She visits the sea-side with Seem, and is shocked; she'd almost forgotten the smell and feel of salt water felt on her skin.

#29: Dance - On the market-days, in Spargus, there are sometimes groups of people who crowd together in the center-square, making music, forming a loose dance; nothing choreographed, but there is a degree of skill, of seasoned warriors who know when and how to move; and when she joins in the circle, spinning and bending to the sway of the music, she is the center of attention in minutes.

#30: Body - There is an incredible joy, with fighting and dancing and racing, in being able to control her body so fully, being in possession of all the power it has; no Eco-channeling or guns, just her, moving in tiny ways that can change whole worlds.

#31: Sacred - Seem gave her directions to the Temple with promises of sanctuary, if she should ever need it; so it should have come as no surprise when Jak took her up on it, half out of her mind with Eco poisoning, with three broken ribs that the monk girl bound, and a fever that white-painted hands soothed away.

#32: Farewells - After the Baron is dead, and Erol has been scraped off of the walls of the stadium, she visits her cell in the prison one more time before the building gets torn down.

#33: World - When she wakes up in Spargus, she's shocked- there's a whole _world_ out here!- and more than anything, she wants to go out and explore.

#34: Formal - Ashelin tries once- _only_ once- to get her into a dress, and after that, she goes to the nobles' functions in a clean set of her fighting-clothes.

#35: Fever - She watches with rising panic as the poison begins to take Daxter first, notices her best friend sleeping longer, eating less, feels her small body radiating feverish heat against her own neck; it doesn't impair her racing ability, but it sure as Hell keeps her awake at night.

#36: Laughs - Sig is the first person besides Daxter to get her to laugh in Haven City.

#37: Lies - She'd like to say that Erol and the Baron never broke her, that she proudly denied them throughout everything they did to her; but she's always hated lying to herself.

#38: Forever - She shudders at the thought of settling in one place for the rest of her life; the closest thing she can imagine is a home base, a touch-stone, someplace she comes back to after an adventure and thinks to herself, _I'm all right._

#39: Overwhelmed - She and Kieran had danced around each other in Sandover for years, but when she finally finds him again after two years only to find he's been making friends with her torturer- it's not fair, but after that, whenever Kieran says, _Jak, _all she can hear is Erol's voice saying, _sweetheart, _and with it comes a rush of awful rage and fear, and she _can't_, she just can't.

#40: Whisper - In her cell, she would pretend that the whispers were Kieran, or Daxter, telling her not to give up; on the outside, she hears the hushed voices ringing in her ears and immediately seeks out someplace loud to drown them out.

#41: Wait - Two years of nothing but waiting for a saviour is more than enough; allowing herself to be saved by anyone (except Dax, and by this point Daxter is less of a best friend and more of a second head, an extension of herself), after that, is intolerable.

#42: Talk - She starts with "We need to talk", and watches all the blood drain from Kieran's face.

#43: Search - She's heard Daxter tell her story from across the bar, about the ottsel's two years spent searching for her best friend, and it sounds like an adventure; but she's heard Dax's stories about things they were both there for, and knows that her best friend leaves all the unpleasantness out- and with how much trimming she adds to this story, it sounds like they both spent two years as suffering, starving animals.

#44: Hope - For a few months, she knew, with absolute certainty, that once the Baron and Erol were dead by her hands, she would allow herself to die; and then suddenly, both of them were gone- neither death of her doing- and she was still alive, and she realized how painful hope could be, like something small and green breaking through concrete.

#45: Eclipse - The shackles on her wrists feel like death itself, the guards at her sides making her itch; Veger is, in the grand scheme of things, just another asshole, and it scratches at her already-raw nerves that she could be brought to her lowest by the likes of him, like a tiny moon temporarily covering the light of the sun; how strong is she, really, if this is all it takes to make her feel like nothing more than an animal?

#46: Gravity - Sometimes she feels like a planet that Daxter is trying to orbit, with all the running around Daxter does on her shoulders; there are too many tiny scratches to count, because the ottsel forgets to file her claws- Jak has that shoulder-pad for a _good reason_, if only her friend would stay in one place.

#47: Highway - Whenever someone refers to Daxter as her "sidekick", she will immediately correct them with, "My co-pilot"; not only does it annoy Dax to no end, but Jak thinks there's definitely a grain of truth to it.

#48: Unknown - One of the best things she's found about life after Haven is that, facing anything she's never done, she can truthfully say that worse has happened to her; and after that, what is there to be afraid of, really?

#49: Lock - There's a "ding" noise that some of the hi-tech doors in Haven make; it's innocuous, but it sounds exactly like the locking mechanism on her cell door, and years later she still startles at it.

#50: Breathe - She takes a breath in, a breath out; she moves; her heart beats; she proves to herself that she's still alive.

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**so many commas, guys, one-sentence prompts are _hard, _I just want to keep going and going... Maybe I'll just call them 100 word prompts and make them less run-on-y. Or maybe that's for pussies. I'd like to do more in this 'verse, because _seriously why is no one doing genderbend, it's awesome_ and because I have no life, clearly. I've got no idea why I 'bent Jak, Daxter and Kiera but no one else; ask my freaky brain, if you see it wandering about. And please don't let the J/K shippers find me, because they'll rip me apart, but I just don't see them together in this 'verse. Kieran's a little too stuck in the past, and Jak's a little too headstrong; it doesn't help that, honestly, most guys I know _would_ have a problem with their girlfriend being that much stronger than they are.**

**Also my girlfriend is drawing lady!Jak for me, so I'll post a link when she's done with it. The only 63!Jak I found had her with GIANT TITTIES (seriously, I love them, but there is more to 63'd characters than boobs) which makes no sense because, really, two years borderline-starving in a prison cell, all that fat in her chest is going to go.**

**If my reviewers would grammar-check this for me, it would be wonderful; I'm in the process of getting a beta, but it's going slowly, and I want to get this up before I chicken out.**

**All my love to long ago,**

**S.s.O.D.**


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